Professor T. Rupert Jones — Triassic Estherke. 291 



the caudal fia. The characteristic pectoral arch and three basal 

 cartilages are well preserved, especially oa the right side ; but the 

 radial cartilages of the great pectoral fia are scattered and only 

 imperfectly shown — indeed, partly destroyed. The imperfect pelvic 

 cartilage lies beneath the thirtieth and thirty-first vertebral centra, 

 where there is a slight displacement of the column ; and the 

 cartilages of both pelvic fins are somewhat scattered, though the 

 long and slender basipterygium is distinct and in position on the 

 right side. The anterior dorsal fin arises quite at the base of 

 the tail, and is apparently similar in size to the posterior dorsal, 

 which is separated from it by a space not exceeding the length of 

 its base of insertion. The caudal fin is rather large, its extent 

 considerably exceeding one-third the length of the tail. The trunk 

 and fins are completely covered with very fine shagreen, which is 

 apparently not enlarged or modified into spinous tubercles on any 

 region. 



On comparing this new fossil with the type-specimen of Squatina 

 acantJioderma, of which there is a good plaster cast in the British 

 Museum, it will be observed to agree precisely in the proportions of 

 all the parts preserved. On the other hand, judging from the figure 

 of the Eichstadt fish published by Von Zittel (Fig. 1), there seem to 

 be several important differences between the latter and the new 

 specimen from Nusplingen. For example, the Eichstadt fossil is 

 represented as having a larger and broader head, relatively smaller 

 pectoral fins, and much smaller and more widely separated median 

 tins. These differences may, of course, be partially explained by 

 imperfections in preservation, and diffei'ences in the mode of 

 crushing ; but it is obvious that the specific identity of Squatina 

 acnnthoderma from Nusplingen and Squatina alifera from Eichstadt 

 is by no means established. 



II. — On some Triassic (?) Estheri^ from the Red Beds or 



CiMORRON Series of Kansas. 



By Professor T. Eupekt Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



PROFESSOR CHARLES S. PROSSER, Geological Department, 

 Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., having sent me some 

 specimens of Estheria found in the Red Beds or Cimorron Series of 

 Kansas, with the request that I would determine the species, my 

 notes on them are here offered to the Geological Magazine, in 

 which other fossil Estherice from North America have been illustrated 

 and described. 



Professor Prosser has treated of " The Cimorron Series or the Red 

 Beds" at pp. 75-95 of "The University Geological Survey of 

 Kansas," vol. ii, 1897; and in the "Kansas University Quarterly," 

 vol. vi. No. 4, October, 1897, p. 151, Professor Prosser, in giving 

 an account of the Red Beds or Cimorron Series, states that 

 Mr. C. N. Gould had lately found a number of invertebrate fossils 

 (presumably the Estheria under notice) in a soft red sandstone not 

 more than 100 feet above the base of the Red Beds or Cimorron 



